lostcarnival | ⇨ THE MATRIX: Plot Finale

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⇨ THE MATRIX: Plot Finale

Who: EVERYONE! Especially Tamaki, Carly, and Childermass.
When: S1:D40 - the first day of the second performance week.
Where: The carnival, while the gateway to the Matrix is open.
What: Agents find the carnival. They don't like it. Neither does the Ringmaster.
Warnings: Body horror for some people, gun violence for others. Also, a pissed off Ringmaster.

MATRIX: RESOLUTIONS↴

The days following the kidnappings and attacks are tense. The performances go smoothly enough, but are delayed by those that have been bedridden or captured - only for the vanished workers to return a few days after the initial attacks. Bad things have been done to them, clearly, but the specifics are unclear, as is why they seem to have been released without a fight. Maybe the machines just had no further use for them, as unlikely as it seems.

Regular humans from the Matrix come and go. They experience the carnival, balk at the possible unreality of their lives, and then go home. What it accomplishes is ambiguous and perhaps unsatisfactory to some. All the while, the threat of something more ominous lurks.

The sensible thing to do in this situation would be to pack up and leave, but even if it is broached to the Ringmaster, she will be resistant. She spends much of the Off Week mulling over the idea, only casually recommending that people might want to stay out of the Matrix for the time being, but not enforcing it. When the next week rolls around, she makes the somewhat unpopular decision to declare that the carnival is opening its gates to the Matrix again. Workers are directed to prepare for another week of performances.

This turns out to be an irresponsible choice.

► AGENTS ATTACK: Mere hours after the carnival gates open, theoretical threats assertively make themselves a reality. It may not be entirely clear what happened to all observers, but the generalities appear something like this: the gates open and performances start, humans enslaved within the Matrix start to come in, just as before, and then... chaos breaks out. Suddenly Agents are there, something the Ringmaster had assured wouldn't happen. The numbers of Agents present seem to multiple within a short time period, but with some luck you may spot the original source - it's the three captures carnival workers, Tamaki, Carly, and Childermass.

► THE BUGGED: For Tamaki, Carly, and Childermass, this is sure to be an unpleasant experience. How much they experience or remember of this will vary, but what will essentially happen to them is that three Agents are going to use their implanted bodies in an attempt to import themselves into the carnival's reality - that is to say, they are going to try to upload themselves into their bodies through the implanted bugs, and overwrite them as they do with the Matrix natives. (For an example of how this usually, watch the helicopter be overwritten by an Agent about ten seconds into this clip.) This won't really work like how they intended, given that the carnival's reality is a mixture of code, magic, and matter at the moment.

How exactly this pans out with your character is up to you - you can have them completely turn into an middle aged white man with a gun (or a different middle aged white man if they already are one) but have the Agent's control falter after a short while, or they can only partially change and partially take over. Or, they can just try to possess your characters body for a while, with no physical changes. Motivation wise, the Agents are pretty simple. They discovered the anomaly of the carnival and wanted to know what the fuck was going on, but what happens after arriving isn't really what they were expecting. They will be attacking primarily out of reflex and out of a lack of better ideas. They are machines, programmed for a purpose, and will do their best to accomplish that - right now, that is eliminating a threat. The bugged characters can be saved by being taken down/knocked out/restrained enough that the Agents will make the jump into another nearby Matrix native.

From there, they will multiply, for a short time.

► KICKBANNED: After the Agents enter through the three bugged characters, more Agents will appear by overwritting some of the nearby Matrix natives. Overall we are talking about 6 Agents spread out around the carnival at any given moment, but if you kill or injure their host they will be able to jump to a new human and take them over. The attack will be short, but unpleasant. After about 15 minutes the Ringmaster will realize what is happening, and put a swift end to it. If any of the possessed characters haven't been knocked out/saved by then she will literally and figuratively rip the Agents out of them, returning them to normal.

After that she will tear apart the coding/consciousnesses of the remaining Agents and kick all of the remaining visitors out, slamming the gates behind them. She will be very pissed, and it will be scary to watch. Then, she will declare that they are packing their figurative bags and moving the fuck on, thank you very much.

OOC GUIDELINES: The carnage here should not get excessive, though people are welcome to get hurt if they want to. The fight will be short, and ultimately the Agents will be too confused to be super effective - however, it's more than enough to provoke the Ringmaster into being done with this shit. Any Agents killed will revert to the dead body of whatever human they were possessing. These bodies will also disappear when the Ringmaster kicks everyone out. If they jump from a live host, the host will be left with whatever injuries they sustained. The bugged characters will have to get their implants removed by the Doctor.

Overall, this isn't meant to be a total bloodbath, and the carnival workers will have a good shot at handling the Agents on their own turf. It's mostly the fact that they keep coming back that is the problem. Character's abilities function as normal inside the carnival, and they may possess a small portion of their One powers for the duration of the fight, too.

OOC questions can be directed to the original plot post. If you are one of the three possessed people and really don't want to do this plot, we can figure a way to minimalize it for you, but I'm hoping this is something the plot volunteers find exciting.

Threaded | Flat

It's not the first time some veterans will have seen her furious, but it's always memorable. It seems both a very long and a very short time after the Agents arrive that she is there, appearing in bursts of flame and ripping the Agent's very essence out of their humans shells. Her eyes glow ember red, now, showing their inhumanity more clearly than usual - her hands seems clawed, and her teeth particularly sharp.

She snorts smoke in disgust as she tears them apart, and then heads to the gate with an irritated roar.

"GET OUT!" she commands, and all of the remaining residents of the Matrix seem to be sucked back out the way they came, leaving only some shed blood and collateral damage in their places. She doesn't give a shit about the injured humans of that world. All she cares about is that this whole planet has turned out to be a huge waste of time and absolutely no fun at all.

Once the dust has settled, she stands at the head of carnival, staring at the space where the gate just was, her claws clenches at her sides.

"What the hell is wrong with people?!" she yells at no one in particular. "Am I cursed or something??"

It's at the Big Top where this entire ordeal begins (or more like continues) for Childermass. He's still on light duty thanks to his less fortunate adventures in the Matrix, but it's been days since then and he's at least shown up to help out backstage even if he won't be performing. He's in the middle of setting something aside, for some other act or another, when a complete and utter feeling of wrongness hits him. It's like he's been punched in the gut all over again and whatever he'd been holding before clatters to the floor as he instead doubles over and throws out a hand for the nearest thing to grab onto, to try and keep his balance. He ends up sinking to one knee, anyway.

The struggle will go on for about a minute before the Agent overrides the magician's control over himself, though suddenly faced with a physical body outside the Matrix, in a place run by magic, it doesn't quite go as planned. Childermass doesn't physically change, but who's driving sure does.

When he — the Agent — gets back to his feet, it's an unsteady attempt, but he gets there. There's no real time to get used to suddenly being stuck in a actual physical body, but the Agent will deal, and immediately checks for his gun. That, at least, manifested correctly. The rest of this, however, is not what he'd expected.

One quick, jerky, and uncharacteristically confused glance around the Big Top later, the Agent will be heading for the nearest exit, to get out into the carnival proper, provided he can make it there at all.

[[OOC: Those two will be taking Tamaki down, but if anyone wants to do something before he gets caught (where he gets away) or afterwards just let me know!]]

Tamaki had taken the off week to rest and do some training after previously getting kidnapped, so he was ready to do the shows he'd originally been scheduled for. He's on his way to one of the side tents for a side acrobatics show when suddenly he finds himself rooted in his tracks.

It feels like his whole body is suddenly being yanked and stretched, then pulled in on itself. He's shrinking, back down toward his original height, and it isn't pleasant, like all his growing pains but in reverse and much more intense. His hair starts to turn black, the color coming from the roots and pushing down each strand, and he can feel his face shifting, like his bone structures are changing.

"N-no... no...!"

He's not sure when a gun appeared in his hand, but it's there - glitching in and out, but it's there and solid, nonetheless. His feet start to take a few steps, and Tamaki fights against them, causing himself to stumble. His body continues to shift, back and forth between Tamaki's own features and the features of someone else.

"No... leave me alone!"

While most maintenance and repairs are best done during off-hours, Greg tries to stay available while visitors are around in case of emergency. This, however... is not the kind of emergency he had in mind.

Pandemonium's already started breaking out before Greg's figured out the source--until a visitor tenses in the middle of her darts game. She gives a brief gasp, that's all, before she warps, changing into another person before Greg's very eyes. The pit falls out of his stomach, not just from the terrifying shift, but from the appearance man who now stands in the former woman's place. He heard the descriptions from when they nearly killed his son. Agents are in the carnival.

"Steven..."

He has to find him. Greg's feet are moving before his brain's caught up, which is great since there's no time to waste, but less great because it instantly draws the Agent's attention. His head snaps over to Greg too quick, too sharp, and reaches for his gun.

Except Greg's not quite there. Just a large, vaguely human-shaped boulder. Sitting, being unassuming, like boulders are wont. The Agent's pretty disoriented from this reality shift, he must have seen something wrong from the corner of his vision.

Greg has to give Ring Master some credit, this stoneskin spell has definitely made life more interesting. Now if he could just figure out the right medium between "not that protective" and "capable of moving..."

[The Good, the Bad, the Buggy-]

GKHH- [When something starts to happen, she feels it-from deep inside, almost like when she was in her duel. It's different from that however. So very different, coming from within and twisting at her body rather than her soul. She recognizes just one thing about it however, and as she holds her head and starts to fumble from where she was on her way to the cafeteria, people start to stop. And stare, stare as Carly's body tenses and jerks, stiffening and perhaps even flickering through the pixel aura she gives off behind her now.

There's only one thing she can think of to throw it off, one thing-in a flurry of pixelated feathers she changes form, a tiny screech accompanying the shape of the humming bird.

It doesn't work so well however-half the bird is twisted into metal, her eyes wide as the barrel of a gun juts out and starts clicking.]

TWWWT-EET!

BANG

[It's about then that she realizes she's only half steering as well, which just makes it even worse as half the patrons start to duck while the other half look around for something like a metal bucket to cover and catch the bird in.]

[THIS CIRCUS AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE LOT OF US]

[It's a short attack-considering the time-but needless to say once she's freed of agent control and back in her own body?

Carly's not too pleased herself. Violet flames sprout along her wings and arms, her eyes brimming with angry hot tears as she reels on the nearest 'agent' she can.] YOU....

...GET OUT OF THEM, AND GET OUT OF HERE..!

[It may be best not to touch the fire-or maybe remind her that burning up the Agent is doing more harm to the host than anything (though it IS certainly distracting the agent...)]

#1: magic is once again useless
Once he heard the gunshots, Strange instantly recognized what they were. Though that opened up a whole host of questions. One, who was shooting? Two, why where they shooting? Three, how on Earth did someone have a gun in the Carnival in the first place? Didn't this place run mostly on magic?

Thankfully, Strange had his silver basin that he ~~straight up stole~~ had borrowed from the kitchen a while back. It's propped up on a picnic table, filled with water, as Strange splits his time between directing people to the exit as well as looking into the basin of water, occasionally drawing lines on it and peering into the basin as if that somehow helps.

As he spots someone he knows from the Carnival (or at least someone who looks like they'd be from the Carnival), he calls out, "Do you have any idea who's firing those guns in the first place? I need a name, I can't find anybody if I don't have a damn name!"

#2: guns suck. :( warning for blood
Jonathan Strange gets to join the ever growing ranks of People Whom The Matrix Straight Up Fucked Over. He is not happy about that.

Hey there person who's hanging out in the remote area of the Doctor's tent. Surprise, there is now a magician who appeared almost out of nowhere, lying in a puddle at your feet. Having been shot in the shoulder twice by Childermass, Strange looks absolutely horrible. He's bleeding, obviously in pain, hand over the bullet wounds which are still seeping blood, his own claws digging into his flesh because of the pain which makes even more blood...all in all he doesn't look good.

He attempts to stagger to his feet, but it's very slow-going. "Help," he stammers, through gritted teeth. "I need-" but then a fresh spasm of pain shoots though Strange, as he cuts off his own words with a yelp of pain. "I've been shot!" His tone is almost incredulous, as if he can't believe this happened to begin with.

Once he's been dragged to the Doctor's office and is recuperating, Strange'll attempt to wave over anybody who looks like they know what they're doing. He looks awful and drifts in and out of consciousness, but he's got to tell the supervisors something. He honestly has no idea if the chaos is still going on, but he's got to tell them this before something terrible happens.

The lunch rush is just beginning, and Hinawa is on her way to a table with a tray of piping hot soup bowls. She doesn't even realize something is wrong until she's staring one of those stone-faced men directly in the eye (hadn't that been an older gentleman just a moment before?). She hadn't had the displeasure of seeing one of these agents in May Tricks, but she had learned enough from the others to know they were dangerous. They're strong, their magic is powerful, and their weapons are deadly.

And now one of them was standing right before her. She does the first thing she can think of: She upends the tray of hot soup on him, then turns and flees back to the kitchen as fast as she can, screams and confusion in her wake. Once there, she grabs for one of the talking bricks.

"H-hello? I think- I think one of those men, agents? I think he's here in the cookhouse! Could someone please come and help?" Her request is polite, but the fear in her voice is obvious.

Steven had just been warming up for the day's performances when chaos breaks out. He's backstage at the time, doing some stretches and trying to get ready to move on from his injury physically, but then something from the other side of the curtains draws his attention. It isn't any sound or movement that he can pinpoint at first, but instead a pervasive sense if ill ease, like a radiant anxiety that feeds into his own emotions.

Just as he's taken a couple, uncertain steps beyond the curtains to see what's happening, a gun fires. His focus flashes to its source, and he sees them standing there - an Agent, straightening up from within the ordinary humans that had arrived to the Big Top early to get good seats. The Agent doesn't seem interested in any of those people - their shaded gaze spins on Steven immediately, like they can sense the enemy in their midst.

He feels a smothering, paralyzing surge of fear run through him as their gun tracks him with its barrel. He can't move. He can't breathe.

The next thing he's conscious of is being surrounded in soft pink light as his bubble has formed, multiple bullets ricocheting off of its surface and sending him rolling back behind the curtain. Screams break out, and his thought and feelings have become too loud for him to comprehend or tolerate - he curls into himself, pulling the barrier in close, covering his ears with his hands and closing his eyes like it will make the feelings stop, but they don't.

He only manages to suck in a breathe every few staggered heartbeats, and his literal understanding of the world around him vanishes, being replaced with abstract feeling.

He stays frozen there as bullets are fired all around the grounds, unable to free himself.

I. How are there this many people here
Sora's trying his best, he really is. It's his job to keep the peace, it's his job to protect the carnival patrons and his coworkers, but there's so much chaos it's difficult to keep his head in check. These are people, not heartless or monsters or nobodies, and he can't just go into battle mode and whack anything he can see with the keyblade.

His key is out, but there's no room to fight with this many people around, innocent people, and he couldn't possibly swing, knowing he might accidentally hit someone.

The crowd is thick with people running and screaming, and it's difficult to get his bearings, and it doesn't help that he's too short to see over them. He could jump up and try to see, but that might just make him more of a target.

Sora's forced, instead, to search from ground level for the source of the disturbances, but a little help would certainly be appreciated. Specifically, from someone taller than him.

II. That sure is a gun

He's found one, one of the agents, and boy do they not look happy. The space around them is clear, giving Sora an area to fight without worry, but the other guy is fighting with guns, and that's just not fair.

He rushes towards the intruder with the intention to hit, dodging as best he can, but even he can't avoid every single bullet, and a few graze his arms and legs as he runs. He ignores them, and manages to crack the agent on the back of the head with the keyblade, sending the guy toppling to the ground.

Sora takes a moment to catch his breath, watching the fallen agent apprehensively, and then there's another shot from behind him, this one grazing his side and ripping his shirt. Sora hisses at the sting and spins around, and... is that? The same agent? Again?

He does a double take, then falls back into battle stance.

"Are you SERIOUS?"

Honestly, after the week he'd had, he was itching for a good fight. Even if he wasn't on the patrol he would have gleefully joined in just to crack some skulls. Everyone always thought Sherlock Holmes was this guy who just sat down all day on his chair solving mysteries. No, that was his brother. Sherlock enjoyed the 'legwork', and he was good in a fight.

POW! An Agent gets his glasses broken. Whoever the poor person was behind that now had a fractured face. Sherlock kicked his gun away and tried to dislocate his arm with a tremendous CRACK! Another punch to the stomach. And then he slams his foot as hard as he can on his shin and it snaps as he hits it in just the right spot with the right amount of pressure.

The host was now useless and the Agent jumped to a nearby man with a moustache. The host had been a portly middle-aged man who was now sobbing in pain.

Ah.

Sherlock felt the tiniest bit guilty. He silently offered a hand to help him up when--

Gunshot crack.

The pain didn't register at first. Then his left arm suddenly erupted with pain and numbness and searing heat.

What the--

evacuations

"This way!"

The chaos marks not the first time in his life that Terra wished he had Aqua's shielding capabilities, but his body makes up for most of it. His tail is bodily picking Agents up and away from patrons rather than focusing on using his keyblade or magic for it, the long sweep of it knocking them off their feet when they get too close, and tossing them into who knows where with a sharp twist of shadows and a dark corridor. Keep the threat separate from the customers. Clear the area. Prevent as many casualties as possible.

Not like last time.

Once the grounds are clear, Terra flicks his wrist and summons his keyblade, turning his attention to the first Agent that gets closer. He rolls his shoulders, cricks his neck and smirks. "Let's go."

protecting

"Watch out!"

You were doing something, weren't you? Not paying attention to what was happening around you, that's for sure. And then all of a sudden there's this big guy bodily shielding you, a bullet ricocheting off the stone that decorates his skin. Terra lowers his arm, looks over his shoulder at the Agent and then turns his attention back to you, golden eyes gleaming apologetically. "You okay?"

And things had been going so well. He'd started settling in at the cafeteria, he had a trailer to himself for now, and it was all looking up.

Jimmy'd been doing his usual sweep of the tables and bins for dishes and caught sight of what looked like a guest having a seizure, maybe? Something was definitely wrong. The guy bends over and his clothes shift into a grey suit, which starts the alarm bells ringing. When someone else stands up in that too-smooth, unnatural way and turns towards Jimmy, the alarms start screaming.

The tub drops from his hands, forgotten as Jimmy turns and starts to run. In between panicked flashes to Run! and Hide! some detached part is trying to figure out what they are. Angels? Leviathans? Who knows. Who cares. The big thing is that he needs to be somewhere else. Right now.

Edited 2017-01-07 02:46 (UTC)

Threaded | Flat

⇨ FUCK THIS SHIT WE'RE OUT

⇨ CHILDERMASS WITH A GUN (aka an Agent)

closed-ish to Mitsuki and Joker

no subject

CARLY | OTA

Jonathan Strange | ota!

Chaos in the cookhouse

TURTLING IN THE BIG TOP

Sora | ota

Holmes Vs. the World | OTA

Terra | open

You should be running.